Critical Care Medicine Division

Critical care medicine division members

The Division of Critical Care Medicine (CCM) was founded by Niels Lund, M.D., Ph.D. F.C.C.M. in 1987, and has been instrumental in the introduction and development of the specialty of CCM at the University and the city of Rochester. The Department offers a multidisciplinary fellowship program leading to sub-specialty boards in CCM and is open to candidates who have completed an Anesthesiology residency.

The Intensive Care Units at Strong Memorial Hospital specialize in medical and surgical care for patients who require continuous monitoring, timely interventions, and specialized care. The faculty members in the CCM Division provide care on three of those units: the Kessler Family Burn Trauma Intensive Care Unit which is a regional burn and trauma center with 17 ICU beds; the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (8-36) where there are 12 surgical ICU beds; and the Surgical Intensive and Progressive Care Unit (8-14) where there are four surgical ICU beds. The primary focus on these units is caring for critically ill trauma, burn, and postoperative surgical patients recovering from major surgeries such as transplant, neurosurgical, thoracic, vascular, urologic, obstetric and gynecologic, and general surgical cases.

The CCM faculty actively participates in the education of Anesthesiology residents. They have an active role in the didactic lectures and bedside teaching. The Division uses the textbook "Intensive Care Manual" as the base of written material. They also have a CD-based program that is available through the Anesthesiology Department web site and in the Surgical Intensive and Progressive Care Unit (8-14). In 2008, the Anesthesiology residents ranked in the 89th percentile in Critical Care Medicine knowledge on their In-Service Exam.

Over the last two years several major anesthesia-based quality improvement projects have been initiated to improve patient care including the implementation of the ICU handoff guidelines that ensure that patient information is accurately transmitted from one team to another when a surgical patient is transferred to the ICU from the operating room. Since it is reported that delirium occurs in more than 80% of ICU patients, the Division has also developed tools to evaluate delirium and sedation in critically ill patients. Several faculty members have participated in both national and international forums on sedation and delirium in ICU patients. Also, they have generated published guidelines in the care of this condition.

The work of the Anesthesiology Department in the field of CCM is widely published in the literature. The Division has participated in over forty funded studies and has mentored several generations of fellows and residents in CCM research. The Division of Critical Care has an international reputation and is involved in research in the areas of septic shock, systemic inflammatory response, adult respiratory distress syndrome, severe pulmonary trauma, post traumatic emphysema, ethical care of critically ill patinients, and evidence-based medicine.